


Defined

by orphan_account



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-21
Updated: 2005-06-21
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	Defined

It's interesting how people can, fairly accurately, be described by a single trait of character. Smile, for example.

Kikumaru and Momoshiro smile like they don't know that there are other facial expressions available - when they don't it means they're hurt, or angry, but Inui has to admit that he has never been exactly _frightened_ by their anger. Their smiles are natural, confident. Expected, too, and if they're not present, someone will come up to them and ask why.

Fuji smiles almost all the time, too, but when he doesn't it means that _someone else_ is going to get hurt soon. It's always better not to be in the vicinity when it happens, and anyone with a little sense will make sure that they're not.

Oishi and racketless Kawamura are more difficult to pinpoint: they're either apologetic or trying to get someone to do something when they smile; not manipulative, because it's not their way, but it sure makes people feel better, because both of them are _nice_, without even having to think about it.

Echizen's smile is rare, more often a smirk than anything else. He's still a child, still brimming with confidence - _over_-confidence, one might say, but he hasn't been proved wrong yet- and pride, and one could find it somewhat sad that he's already built such a wall around himself.

Tezuka's is rarer, and it always comes as a gift to the team, but that's what it is. A calculated gift, an offering, to make them feel better, or maybe good, about the way they played. It's a reward, and Inui treats it as such.

And then there is Kaidou.

Most would say that _he_ just _doesn't_ smile, but Inui knows that to be false. Because Kaidou does, even in public at times, but only when he thinks no one will notice.

Which may very well be the reason why Inui has taken to watch Kaidou at unlikely times, just to catch that fleeting moment. Maybe the reason why he's standing there now, too, on that oh-so-familiar bank, when he should be catching up on all his out of date data... And there isn't any more data he can get out of Kaidou, he's known it for a while - has told him, even, and anyone would have noticed the slightly hurt look on Kaidou's face then.

He doesn't look hurt now, only concentrated on his exercises, dead set on making it right, making it _better_ \- the fact that someone could pull off a much better Boomerang Snake than his was a bad blow to his ego, that Inui is sure of.

So Kaidou concentrates and trains - it is, in fact, his best strength, they are both aware of that, and only when he's finished with his stroke practice - 250, is it? and that menu will soon be outgrown, as were the six before it - does he turn around to acknowledge his senpai's presence. Maybe because summer and sunset and wind create an atmosphere that can only be described as romantic, Inui smiles. And it might be fact, or his imagination, or the way the sunset reflects on the water... but for a second he could swear Kaidou smiles back.


End file.
